Quinnipiac University
Oklahoma - NCAA First Round
QU Women's Basketball Falls in First Round of NCAA Tournament; Bobcats Defeated by No. 5 Oklahoma, 111-84
3/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
- Box Score
- QU Women's Basketball Homepage
- QU Women's Basketball Schedule (Downloadable on iCalendar)
- MAAC Women's Basketball Homepage
- Audio of Quinnipiac Postgame Press Conference
- Postgame Notes of Quinnipiac vs. Oklahoma
STANFORD, California – The No. 12 seeded Quinnipiac University women's basketball team fell short in the opening round of the 2015 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament to the No. 5 seed Oklahoma, 111-84, at Maples Pavilion on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. With the loss, the Bobcats conclude their historic season with a 31-4 record, while the Sooners advance to the tournament's second round to face the winner of the later game between No. 4 Stanford and No. 13 Cal-State Northridge.
Quinnipiac was led by Jasmine Martin (Sicklerville, New Jersey), one of the best players to ever done the blue and gold, who finished with a game-high 24 points in her final game in a Bobcat uniform. She finishes her career third all-time and second in QU's Div. I history with 1,689 points.
Fellow senior class member Gillian Abshire (Washington, D.C.) was also terrific in her final game, raining in a career-high four three-pointers to finish with 12 points and six assists. Quinnipiac's all-time assist leader (704), who started all 134 career games, will go down as the best point guard in program history.
Facing a team with the size, athleticism and big game experience of a BCS program such as Oklahoma, Quinnipiac needed the Sooners to miss on a semi-consistent basis. Unfortunately, Oklahoma had other ideas right from the first possession.
The Sooners shot a blistering 55.6 percent (40-for-72) from the floor, including 61.8 percent (21-for-34) in the first half, while hitting 13 three-pointers. On the other hand, Oklahoma's size and speed forced Quinnipiac into 34.8 percent shooting (23-for-66) overall. The Bobcats did still manage to stay true to their identity and play with aggression as Quinnipiac shot a season-high 33 free throws (26 makes) but the hot shooting of the Sooners was just too much to overcome.
In a clash of two similarly built teams, both Quinnipiac and Oklahoma preferred an up-tempo style with the ability to hit from long range, the Bobcats weren't ready for the speed of the Sooners offensive attack.
Oklahoma won the opening tip and torched the net as the Sooners hit on 8-of-10 attempts from the floor and 12 for their first 15 to build a commanding 19-5 lead just 4:01 into the game. Quinnipiac's defense, which had to respect the interior play led by the Sooners' Kaylon Williams, was left scrambling out to three-point shooters who all buried open looks in the opening stages.
Down by 14 points right from the jump, the Bobcats could have easily been written off but the Quinnipiac seniors, who'll go down as the winningest four-year class in the history of Quinnipiac women's basketball, weren't about to exit the gym without a fight.
Martin started the Quinnipiac pushback with a three-point hit from the wing and Samantha Guastella (Red Bank, New Jersey) hit her first and only three-pointer of the day to lower the gap down to 11. Guastella, Quinnipiac's all-time leader in three-pointers (225), closes out her career with a streak of 32 straight games with at least one make from behind the arc.
Guastella again got the offensive flow moving again as she hit five straight free throws, followed by an aggressive take from Martin that resulted in a layup to once again keep the deficit at 12.
Martin continued her stellar play with another layup towards the end of the half but Oklahoma's interior presence proved to be a major problem for the Bobcats as the three Sooner forwards to see time in the first half shot a combined 90 percent from the floor (9-for-10). Oklahoma's lead grew to 17 points by the end of the half as the scoreboard favored the Sooners, 57-40.
Even with the 17-point deficit, Quinnipiac was only outscored by the Sooners by three points, 38-35, in the final 15:59 of the first half after falling behind 19-5 early.
With plenty of time still remaining, Quinnipiac continued to hold serve with the Big 12 power as Abshire rained in back-to-back three-pointers in the opening stages of the stanza.
Abshire's heat check was the start of the strongest comeback attempt of the game put forth by the Bobcats. Trailing 67-49, Brianah Ramos (Montgomery, New York) and Napolitano each drained back-to-back free throws before the make of the day came from Napolitano from deep to lower the deficit to just 11 points with 13:22 remaining.
As Napolitano's three ball found nothing but net, chants of "Let's go Q" coursed throughout Maples Pavilion as the strong Quinnipiac faithful on-hand reached their highest pitch of the game. The Bobcat fans who made the cross-country trek to the West Coast outnumbered a smaller group of Oklahoma faithful and were boisterous throughout even with their home team trailing.
Napolitano's resounding hit from distance forced a heads up timeout from Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale as momentum had clearly swing in favor of the Bobcats in light of the 7-0 run.
Quinnipiac then had a golden opportunity to lower the gap to single digits as Adily Martucci (Waterford, Connecticut) forced the Big 12 Rookie of the Year Gabbi Ortiz into a turnover at center court. Once Martucci corralled the ball, she tried to find Napolitano at the block but Ortiz hustled back and intercepted the pass clean.
The costly Bobcat turnover then turned into a five-point swing as Oklahoma cashed in on a three-pointer in their next possession and then hit another the next trip down the floor to boast their lead back up to 17 points.
Martin led one last rally attempt as she hit two straight three's and followed with another in the closing stages but the Sooners' offense was too much to overcome as Oklahoma finished off the 111-84 victory.
Quinnipiac finishes its best season in program history at 31-4, good enough for the most single-season wins in program history. Among the many significant team accomplishments, the Bobcats finished a perfect 23-0 against MAAC opponents, reeled off a 23-game winning streak, won the first MAAC Championship in program history, advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history and second time in three years, and were just one of three teams (UConn, Notre Dame) to record at least 31 wins throughout the season.
The winningest four-year class in the history of Quinnipiac women's basketball closes out their careers with 104 wins, the most of any class in Quinnipiac's 40-year history.
Abshire, Martin, Guastella, Nikoline Ostergaard (Vedbaek, Denmark) and Shaina Earle (South Orange, New Jersey) will go down in the record books for quite some time as the sensational five-member senior class lifted the program to new heights. They brought the Bobcats to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, advanced to the conference championship game three straight seasons and won two conference titles.
Contact: Maxx McNall; maxx.mcnall@quinnipiac.edu
